900 Afghan Civilians Reported Massacred

March 27, 1985|United Press International.

NEW DELHI, INDIA — Soldiers massacred 900 Afghan civilians and hauled their bodies off in cattle carts in one of the bloodiest incidents since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, a Western diplomat said Tuesday.

No details on the date or nature of the conflict were immediately available, but it was believed that Soviet or Afghan government forces launched the attack recently somewhere in northern Kunduz province.

An estimated 500,000 Afghans, many of them civilians, have been killed since the invasion, but the incident was one of the single bloodiest of the war, the diplomats said.

``There are well-authenticated reports of a massacre in Kunduz,`` one of two diplomats told reporters in separate briefings on Afghanistan. ``Nine hundred civilians were killed and their bodies put in bullock carts.``

Large-scale massacres have occurred in the area before, an Afghan source said.

In late January, Soviet troops slaughtered about 500 Kunduz villagers after guerrillas killed a Soviet general in an ambush on a Russian convoy, the source said.

Both diplomats also said bombs planted by Islamic rebels in Soviet- frequented shopping areas of the Afghan capital of Kabul killed several Soviet soldiers last week.

One of the diplomats quoted a recent visitor to Kabul as saying the atmosphere was ``ominous,`` with ``jittery`` Soviets carrying pistols tucked in their belts.

At least three Soviets were killed and 25 other people were injured by a bomb blast March 20 at a shop in Microrayon, a Soviet residential district in Kabul, one diplomat said. A high-ranking Soviet officer was among the dead.